AKURE — GOVERNOR Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, yesterday, said his administration was determined to bring back the lost glory of education in the state.

Governor Mimiko explained that his administration decided to set up the Education Quality Assurance Agency, EQAA, as part of efforts to restore education in the state to its lost glory.

Dr Mimiko who spoke during an inspection of unity schools in the state, expressed concern over the sorry state of schools in the state.

According to him: “Infrastructure has broken down completely, we just went round and saw the state of things here. I am sure you are not proud of the situation. No parent will want their children to be in such environment. The work environment, the classrooms, the hostels and so on have broken down completely.

That is why we are doing total overhaul of infrastructure in this school. In this school alone, we are carrying out 57 projects and by the time we are through, there will be no building here that will not wear a new look.

“We are spending N600million here alone and we are still going to spend more because while going round, we saw some improvements that we have to make. As we are doing for you, we are also doing for other unity schools in the state.

We have more than 101 projects going on in our unity schools. We want our students to study and live in the 21st century environment”.

Governor Mimiko who was conducted round the schools by the State Commissioner for Education, Dr Pius Osunyikanmi, promised to make public schools conducive for teaching and learning with a view to producing competent future leaders for the  country.

According to him, the wealth of the country was not in her mineral resources but in the human capital that should be developed through quality education to guarantee sustainable future for the country.

He said, “Our wealth is not in the granite that dots our landscape, our wealth is not in the bitumen that is in the bowel of our land, although we have the second largest bitumen deposits in the world; but our wealth is in the human capital that we are able to build.

That is the guarantee for sustainable development and assurance for us as people and when you talk about human capital, the structure and foundation itself is education. That is why we are investing in education.”

We came on board with clear policy directions and we recognize the need to provide incentive for the workforce,  that was why we did not hesitate to accede to demand of our Teachers for 27.5% increment. I thank you teachers that since we came on board, I have found out that most of you have been up and coming, most of you have taken your duties very seriously I thank you.”

“ We will continue to provide incentives and we can. Part of the incentives is the working environment. Everybody wants to work in an environment that is beautiful and attractive. So, the renovation we are carrying out actually is part of our incentive package.

We are also renovating the staff quarters. By the grace of God,  by the time we are through, water will flow 24 hours, we are building new hostels and landscaping the environment. You can invite your colleagues from anywhere in the world to come and see where you are working. So the incentive is not in the salary alone.”